Think you’ve seen everything? Unless you have seen a robot dog interact with real cows in a field with no interior fences, you haven’t! Soon, you should be able to see this technology at the Farm of the Future, which is moving from planning to implementation stages at the University of Illinois.
A key part of the Farm of the Future, located near U of I’s Beef Farm and Energy Farm south of Champaign, Ill., will be grazing trials with cover crops. “We want to establish cover crops in the fall and graze beef cattle so we can evaluate the economic impact of this practice,” explains Talon Becker, a commercial agriculture specialist with U of I Extension.
These grazing trials will be set up using the latest technology in livestock production, starting with drones to measure forage mass. Italo Braz Goncalves de Lima, with animal sciences at U of I, will help implement and manage assistive technologies.
Virtual fence
The trials will use virtual paddocks. No, cows won’t use a computer to locate virtual fence lines. They will wear solar-powered collars that receive and transmit signals. An app allows you to set boundaries for them. Because you can move the fence easily, the technology is ideal for rotational grazing, where you may want to move animals often as they graze off small areas of the pasture.
Currently, five companies offer virtual fence technology, with a similar concept used by each one. “We see this as another tool in the toolbox for someone wanting to do rotational grazing,” Goncalves de Lima. “It should let you do a more effective job of utilizing pasture.”
NO FENCES? Perimeter fences will remain, but inside fences like the ones in this model farm won’t be needed at the U of I Farm of the Future. The farm will use a virtual fencing concept.
Don’t worry — recommendations still call for a physical fence on the perimeter of the field. “We’re going to make sure we have a perimeter fence before we turn cattle out and begin controlling where they can graze with virtual fencing,” Goncalves de Lima says.
Robot dogs
Goncalves de Lima expects robot dogs will help train and corral cows on the Farm of the Future. He and associates are already experimenting with a quadruped robot dog from Unitree Robotics. He says list price for models that work for this application start around $1,850. A quick tour of the Unitree website indicates that price and capabilities for these robots vary widely.
“These robot dogs have excellent mobility, and we intend to use them for data collection,” the animal scientist says. “We should also be able to collect data with virtual fence collars.”
Goncalves de Lima believes robot dogs will eventually be efficient at helping move cattle from one virtual paddock to the next. Right now, still in the infancy stages of using robots, researchers are trying to answer simple questions. How will cattle react? Will it be a positive experience for them?”
“So far, we have shown that cows won’t charge and destroy them like some feared,” he says. “As we move forward, we want to make sure they don’t stress animals.”
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